Never let a falling kitten use your face for a landing pad!

As we innocently lay in bed, Zephyr decided to balance along the head board about two feet above us.  She slipped and clawed the air all the way down to Papa Tom's face!

This is the doctored version of the deep scratch.  Plenty of blood beforehand!

Another tomato worm!

Tomato worms also like pepper, eggplant, and potato leaves.  This one ate one of our very few bell peppers that made this year!  We move it from the bell pepper plant in the back garden to the eggplant in the front garden.  Don't want to starve the poor guy, but don't want him eating any more bell peppers.

65 years and counting (July 26, 2018)

Yes, I've always had hair that defies gravity.  

An afternoon with grand-nephew Jim (July 24, 2018)

Grand-nephew Jim, age 5, spent the afternoon with Papa Tom at the Thinkery and our house.  He very politely asked if he could take some Mardi Gras beads home.  Well, of course!  We also created a birthday wish list on Amazon, as he'll be 6 on August 24, also Emma's birthday.

102 degrees in the shade (July 23, 2018)

Out in the sun, the high was 110 degrees, a record for the month of July in Austin.  The previous record of 109 degrees had been set in 1954.  Reached 114 degrees in Waco on Monday.  Yikes!

Texas BBQ for real (July 23, 2018)

We swam at Sharon and Jimmy's Sunday evening, then Bernie and Connie followed me home to spend the night in Fox's room before heading back to Vegas on Monday. Bernie had never been to Austin and had to try some real Texas BBQ.  Sausage, brisket, ribs, chicken, pinto beans, potato salad . . . .

Emma's college countdown (Saturday, July 21, 2018)

The Horns visited on Saturday, July 21, 2018.  We met at VIA313 for pizza then headed back to the house for pre-birthday cookies and cupcakes.  Emma must be at Centenary on Wednesday, August 1, to move into the dorm and start choir rehearsals.  Then, off to Paris and back to choir camp before classes start. Thanks, Al, Joyce, and Emma for a wonderful evening together!

Connie and Bernie are in town (July 20-23, 2018)

Friend Connie (to my left) and her boyfriend Bernie (in front of Connie) were in town from Las Vegas.  They stayed in Georgetown with Sharon and Jimmy (to my right) Friday and Saturday night.  On Friday, Papa Tom traveled to San Angelo with his friends Greg and Roy for a buddy road/microbrewery trip, returning Saturday morning.  We all met at Mother's, one of Connie's favorite Austin restaurants.  Sharon, Connie, and I worked together at the Williamson County Sun in Georgetown in the late 1980s.

Tomato worms eat bell peppers!

We found out the hard way, after our tomato blossoms all dropped, that tomato worms are just as happy with eating your bell peppers!  This fat guy was plucked off a pepper plant after dispatching an entire bell pepper.  He ought to be bigger!  He wouldn't eat the leaves and slice of bell pepper we left in the Habitat for him.  We're such friends of nature that we released him in the front garden, near the eggplants, because tomato worms also eat eggplants and potatoes.  He promptly buried himself under the mulch and we haven't seen him since.  Maybe he's cocooning?

Nap time (July 2018)

During a break from Lemony Snicket's "Series of Unfortunate Events," as seen on NetFlix, a young girl and a younger kitten take a cat nap (a short, light sleep; a doze).

Summer in bloom (mid-July 2018)

Moon flowers, sunflowers, zennias, and wildflowers are attracting bees and butterflies.  Some years we see monk parrots among the sunflowers; not this year.  They used to nest about 10 blocks away in the light standards at UT's intramural fields.  But when the fields were renovated last year, the light standards (and nests) were removed.  The parrots have relocated to cell phone towers and other high places.  They are native to Argentina; the original Austin pair escaped from an RV park in the 1970s and made themselves at home.   I'm picturing a little parrot with a guitar and boots. 

Remember this poor bug-eaten moon flower, struggling to survive in May?

A couple of months and daily watering later . . . . ta-da!

Second cousins hanging out (July 14, 2018)

Wasn't sure how Fox is related to Sarah's and Beka's kids.  Thank goodness for the internet!  The relevant website, accompanied by a helpful diagram, says the children of one's nieces/nephews are second cousins to one's grandchildren.  Here we have Beka's son Miles (1), his sister Sadie (6), Sarah's daughter Lucy (3), and Fox (7).  Beka and kids were in town from Seattle the first two weeks in July.  We all got together for dinner and swimming at Sarah's on July 14.

Sadie and Fox in the pool.

Jump Gymnastics (July 2-13)

Fox spent two weeks at Jump Gymnastics camp in July.  Here, she practices the middle splits.

She shinned up to the top of the rope and rang the bell.

Zephyr and Violet (July 7, 2018)

Violet obliviously munches from her food bowl, unconcerned about the silver blur that's as fast as the West Wind aka Zephyr.

Fort Fox

Fox, Zephyr, and Papa Tom in Fort Fox.  

The top of Fort Fox became Zephyr's place to pounce after bedtime, when Fox settled down for the night.  To save the fort, Zephyr had to spend the night in Fox's room.

Independence Day 2018

Amon, Papa Tom, and Fox launch Roman candles into wet grass.  We had rare July Fourth rainfall; no fire danger.

Chuy's with Sarah and Beka (July 3, 2018)

Flat Stanley can't visit Austin without chips and queso for lunch at Chuy's.  Had a good visit with Sarah and Beka and I had fish tacos, of course.

Putting a gate in at Cornerstone (June 29, 2018)

So, as part of  a school project, River sent us Flat Stanley.  We're supposed to show him around the Austin area.  His first visit was with us to Cornerstone, for a look at barbed wire and a pickup truck, and the ins and outs of installing a gate.

Thanks to bungee cords, twisted wire, cardboard, and a pillow under the cardboard to protect the light on top of the cab, we were able to haul a 12' gate in Papa Tom's pickup.

Ta da!  The gate is installed.  The only tool we needed was a crescent wrench to tighten the bolts in the U-shaped gate connectors on the fence post.  Maybe you can see them?

Being that we were outside the Austin city limits, we were able to stop and let Flat Stanley choose some fireworks for the Fourth of July.  He looks pretty happy about the prospect of blowing things up!

Catching up with the nieces, grand-nephews, grand-nieces (June 28, 2018)

Sarah, Kirk, Beka, and kids came over for dinner June 28.  We brought in Torchy's Tacos and Tom made his incredible black beans and guacamole.  Here, left to right, Jim, Lucy, Jake, and Sadie helped Uncle Tom find the giant zucchini in our front garden.

Kirk shows off his Torchy's Taco.  They are the best: really!

The zucchini is safely picked!  Uncle Tom and I sat on the front steps with Miles, age 1 (on my lap); Lucy, age 2 (to turn 3 on July 1); Sadie (age 6); Jim (age 5) and Jake, Lucy's twin.

Zephyr and Einar (June/July 2018)

Zephyr takes the high ground to check out Einar, the old cat on the porch.  They've had a few hissing/spitting/batting matches.  Remember sibling rivalry?  Is all good.  They'll eventually settle into their roles.